Generally, a shooter for a snow remover is designed so that a single-step or double-step shooter guide is swingably mounted on the distal end of the shooter, and snow that has collected in an auger is ejected in an arbitrary direction.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-40898 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-355216 disclose a shooter for a snow remover that is designed so that a shooter guide is bendably mounted on a distal end of a shooter, and a recoil means is provided between the shooter and the shooter guide for returning the shooter guide to its initial state. The shooter for a snow remover disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-40898 will be used as an example and described with reference to FIG. 12 hereof.
The shooter 200 shown in FIG. 12 includes a first shooter guide 202 swingably mounted on the distal end of a shooter main body 201, and a second shooter guide 203 swingably mounted on the distal end of the first shooter guide 202. A tension spring 204 is provided between the shooter main body 201 and the first shooter guide 202 to allow the first shooter guide 202 to return to its original position. An operating wire 205 extends from the first shooter guide 202. Pulling the operating wire 205 causes the first and second shooter guides 202, 203 to swing and bend in relation to the shooter main body 201. Releasing the operating wire 205 allows the tension spring 204 to return the first and second shooter guides 202, 203 to their initial positions.
However, since the shooter 200 uses the tension spring (coil spring) 204 as the recoil means, an assembly operation is required in which the tension spring 204 is stretched between the shooter main body 201 and the first shooter guide 202. Stretching the recoiling tension spring 204 between the shooter main body 201 and the first shooter guide 202 in this manner is a complicated operation, and it is preferable that the assembly operation be simplified.
Furthermore, in the shooter 200 described above, the recoiling tension spring 204 is provided between the shooter main body 201 and the first shooter guide 202, and the tension spring 204 therefore resonates and increases the noise of the shooter 200. It is thus preferable that the resonating of the tension spring 204 provided between the shooter main body 201 and the first shooter guide 202 be improved to make the shooter quieter.